Hand-made Panettone and other Italian Christmas Treats

Roscioli bakery, all decked up for Christmas and ready to make some deliveries. Photo by author.

It's almost Christmas and here in Italy that means one thing: time to stock up on panettone, pan d'oro, torrone, and all the other ubiquitous holiday sweets. And it isn't hard: everywhere you turn, from supermarkets to bakeries to pastry shops, stacks and stacks of these traditional Christmas desserts are just waiting to be snapped up by hungry, sweet-toothed shoppers. Some are becoming so famous that you can find them not just in Italy but around the world.

Here's a guide to Italian Christmas treats.

Panettone

A baker at Roscioli taking freshly-baked panettoni out of the oven to cool. Photo by author.

The most famous of the bunch, panettone (which translates roughly to "little big bread") originally comes from Milan. It has a dry cakey consistency and is dotted (unfortunately) with raisins and other bits of candied fruit. Despite being the most commonly found and supposedly popular Italian Christmas treat, I've never actually met someone who likes it (although the mini-version is undeniably adorable). These days, you can find versions without raisins, or better yet, with chocolate chips instead, and this is a vast improvement.

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Pan d'Oro

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Pan d'oro ("bread of gold") is only slightly less popular than its raisin-filled friend. This star-shaped cake originally from Verona is a bit lighter, somewhere between the texture of a plain muffin and angel's food cake. Luckily, it has no raisins or other dried fruits lurking inside. The best part about eating pan d'oro is adding a liberal dusting of powdered sugar. You toss the entire cake into the big plastic bag it comes in, dump in the included packet of powdered sugar, and shake vigorously.  My suocero (father-in-law) performs this task with particular gusto.

Torrone

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Of the "big three," torrone is definitely my favorite. It is not a cake, but a candy, and it hails from the northern city of Cremona, where it was supposedly named after the famous medieval tower of that city (torrone means "big tower.") It's a long, rectangular candy bar made of egg whites, honey, sugar, and various kinds of nuts. Depending on the variety, it can be rock-hard or chewy and sticky. My personal favorites are the ones made with almonds and pistachios, and coated with chocolate. This chocolate coating is not strictly traditional, but the way I see it, when was the last time a dessert suffered from being coated in chocolate? Never, amirite?? They also sell torroni made entirely of chocolate and nuts, but as much as I enjoyed eating them, you can't really call them torroni.

Panforte

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Now, if torrone and panettone got together late one night after closing time in the bakery window and reproduced, the result would be panforte, although in this case I don't think that coupling was wise. This "strong bread" from Siena is the closest thing to a true fruitcake that you can find in Italy, and the best part about it is that it's relatively small. Because, honestly, does anyone actually like fruitcake? Chewy, nutty panforte's only saving grace is that it is spicy (it used be called panpepato, "peppered bread").

Ricciarelli

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Now we're getting to the good stuff. Ricciarelli, named after the famous opera singer Katia Ricciarelli (not really), are little lozenge-shaped cookies that date back to 14th-century Siena. Like all the best Italian cookies, their main ingredient is almond paste and they are covered with powdered sugar. They are simple, delicate, and delicious, and like a good Italian transplant, I happily had several this morning for breakfast.

Cartellate

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From the southern regions of Puglia and Basilicata come cartellate. These seriously sinful sweets are made from cooked wine, cinnamon, honey, and sugar, and deep-fried to a golden brown. I have never tried these southern Christmas treats, but after reading about them (and how to make them) on Ciao Chow Linda's blog, I'm tempted to brave the mad two-shopping-days-left city just to try and find some!

Buccellato

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This wouldn't be an Italian dessert round-up without a nod from Sicily, island that, quite frankly, I wouldn't be surprised to discover was made entirely of sugar. Their signature Christmas treat is buccellato, a ring-shaped cake made of pasta frolla (a light and exquisite pastry dough) and filled with dried figs, orange peel, and chocolate chips. A second version is filled instead with almond paste and dried pumpkin.

Struffoli

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And last, but certainly not least, the unbeatable Christmas treat from Naples. My suocera (mother-in-law) is from Naples, and she makes struffoli every year, so I'll be consuming it in large quantities starting tomorrow. Struffoli are basically tiny balls of sweet dough, deep-fried and coated in honey, and then covered with colored sprinkles and bits of candied fruit. All I can say is, it's incredibly addicting and I can't wait for tomorrow.

And with that, dearest bloglings, I leave you with your mouths watering while I rush out to do my Christmas shopping (procrastinate much?). Which of these treats is your favorite, and did I leave anything out?

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Happy (belated) Saint Valentine's Day, lovers!

I meant to post yesterday, something informative and well-researched  about the origins of Saint Valentine's Day and just who St. Valentine was, but somehow the day got away from me, so that post will have to wait until next year. I did, however, write a Valentine's day post for the blog of the wonderful Beehive Hotel, right here in Rome, recently named the No. 2 hotel in the world!! Linda, the owner and a friend of mine, asked me to write a post about my experiences getting married in Italy, and you can find it here.

But I can't resist sharing a photo, even though it does give away Maritino's real name, that I have tried so diligently to keep private! But as I said, I can't help but share this:

These adorable scrabble cookies were made by the newest baking sensation to hit Rome: Calliope Cakes. I will do a more thorough post about this amazing cake- cookie- and cupcake-baker soon, but these Valentine's day cookies were just too wonderful not to share. Here are a few other too-adorable-to-eat but too-yummy-to-resist Valentine's day cookies by Calliope Cakes:

These cookies are so intricate and skillfully done, I just can't get enough of them!

Valentine's day may be over, but guess what, people, it's Carnevale! If there was ever an excuse to stuff yourself with sinful treats, this is it!

Photo sources: 1, by author; 2, 3 by Calliope Cakes.

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Words, words, words: Leccornia

It's funny how I can get on a roll with blogging, pounding out several posts in a week, and then all it takes is few days of laziness and procrastination and I haven't blogged in 3 weeks! My apologies, bloglings, it won't happen again!

I'll make this a short post, to get my feet wet again. Even though I went to two amazing exhibits this week and I am dying to share them with you!

How about this for a great word: Leccornia.

It means delicacy, morsel, or something simply divine to eat. Something scrumptious. Something mouth-watering. (As usual, English can't quite do it justice.)

It comes from the word lecco, which means "I lick", as in "finger-licking goodness". OK, I completely made that up. I don't know the etymology of the word, all I know is that I like it.

It doesn't necessarily refer to something sweet, but in my mind it does. To me, a leccornia looks like this:

Or like this:

Or maybe this:

This post is in perfect timing with my New Year's Resolution to give up sugar!*

Let's try this out in a sentence: Lecco le mie dita ogni volta che mangio una leccornia. (I lick my fingers everytime I eat a delicacy.)


*Translation: to cut back on sugar

Photo sources: 1, 2, 3

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Chocolate Festival in Trastevere!!

Let me state for the record that I do not use double exclamation points lightly. Only for occasions of exceptional importance, and this is one of them.

On my way to the post office yesterday morning in my wonderful little neighborhood, I ran smack dab into this:

Um, what? I blinked.

That's about when my heart stopped.

But I didn't have my camera on me, as usual, so I had to go back today to take photos. Honestly, it was purely for documentation purposes!

There were probably 12-15 booths set up in total, in Piazza Sonnino, near the last tram stop before Ponte Garibaldi, with a few more booths in the adjacent piazza along Via della Lungaretta toward Santa Maria in Trastevere. The chocolate represented comes from all over Italy. This first booth was certainly the most elegant. This photo does not do justice to the seemingly endless amount of chocolate lollipops (definitely not the correct term) lined up in this display.

 

This over-sized goblet made me giddy. It was overflowing with candied orange dipped in chocolate. How I would have loved to have had this at my wedding! 

This doubtlessly amazing shop is called Bolzi and is located in Bedonia, near Parma, in Piazza Plebiscito, 5.

 

This was my favorite thing of all, from a taste standpoint. These gorgeous brittles, as I suppose they are called, are made with either almonds, hazelnuts or pistacchi, and dipped in chocolate on one side. To. Die. For.

Yes, that's right. They also had macarons! Imported from Paris! (These I did have at my wedding.) The shop is located in Bergamo, but they didn't have a card so I can't offer any more info.

Naples was represented as well, with more than just chocolate. These typical Neopolitan cookies were heavenly...

 

Too bad the Maritino wasn't with me, he would have drooled over these fresh babà, his absolute favorite.

The amazing sweets just didn't seem to end.

One of the most surprising things was that most of the booths didn't have business cards!

There was a Sicilian pasticceria represented as well, making fresh cannoli and offering hundreds of pieces of my beloved Frutta della Martorana.

All these sweets were making my head spin and my stomach growl, but since I am a visual person, I must admit that my favorite chocolates were the ones in the shape of every day items.

 

 

These cocoa-covered coffee makers and phone dials are from Cioccolato Moro in Soave, near Verona.

 

Every girl's fantasy: chocolate and shoes in one!

Piccole Dolcezzze in Vallerano (near Viterbo) had the most adorable tools made out of chocolate. I have never wanted to fix up the house more!

These chocolate keys are fit for a pope!

A gentle hint to brush after consuming if you don't want to end up wearing a set of these:

But this last place is my absolute favorite, with chocolates in the shape of every type of cheese imaginable, not to mention salumi and mushrooms.

 

 

Did you see the chocolate cheese graters? I can't stand it!! (By the way, the festival runs through Sunday 4 December, so hurry!)

All photos by author

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